Reviews

Congo Square Theatre Company
Chicago, March-April 2007

"Stick Fly" doesn’t let us forget that even in the most idyllic settings, and among the most gentle of people, conflict and strife still buzz around us like bees near honey.
Dennis Mahoney, Centerstage
http://www.centerstagechicago.com/theatre/shows/2611.html

Diamond's Martha's Vineyard vacationers serve more as functional mouthpieces to the issues instead of becoming living and breathing people caught up in Stick Fly's drama.
Scott C. Morgan, Windy City Times
http://www.windycitytimes.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=11194

"Stick Fly" not only is an impressively ambitious play, it's also a piece with heart that, with work, would make one heck of a screenplay. Right now, it's at least 15 minutes too long. The piece bogs down in the second act. Its themes need more focus and less verbosity.
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_TJegLiAIxpODg2YTU2YTEtMTVkOS00YjNmLWIwNWQtMTRmYWFhMjYxNjZh&hl=en

Intriguing, but at times you just want to shout: Stop the whining.
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times
http://www.alwoda.com/files/20060329_Diamondstudded_dialogue_of_Stick_Fly_grows_tiresome.html

True Colors Theatre Company
Atlanta, May-June 2007

Despite Diamond's command of the race and class tensions among wealthy black intellectuals, the playwright proves less confident with dramatic structure. At times director Derrick Sanders [...] has trouble setting a strong sense of momentum and pace given the play's short and sometimes repetitive scenes.
Curt Holman, Creative Loafing
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/stick_fly_secrets_and_flies/Content?oid=249884

McCarter Theatre
Princeton, September-October 2007

Her characters, given nuanced, edgy performances by the excellent cast [...] are generally well drawn and occasionally truly compelling. Yet too often an excess of melodrama and a transparent plot undermine the play's credibility.
Naomi Siegel, New York Times
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_TJegLiAIxpMWRhNTlmYTgtMDliYS00M2U2LTliMDctZTgzMWY4NGRjYzdi&hl=en

Stick Fly is a fascinating and perceptive play which deals with aspects of African-American life which have been underrepresented in the American theatre.
Bob Rendell, TalkinBroadway.com
http://www.talkinbroadway.com/regional/nj/nj242.html

"Stick Fly" leaps with flinty dialogue, crisply tailored performances and a plot laced with hidden secrets and shocking revelations.
Robert L. Daniels, Variety
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934767.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

Despite being overlong, overwrought and overly contentious, Stick Fly is almost giddily entertaining.
Simon Saltzman, CurtainUp
http://www.curtainup.com/stickflynj.html

Diamond’s overly discursive family drama takes some gratuitous segues into coincidence but ultimately takes on the leisureliness and heft of an August Wilson work...
Peter Filichia, Star Ledger
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2007/09/stick_around_for_wit_not_plot.html

But Stick Fly [...] is ultimately a winner. It deals with real-life problems and contains revelations, and never pummels with a message or lectures like a tract. Diamond forces you, instead, to both gasp and laugh at the surprises you face, like a wave that spills over you when you haven't been looking.
Howard Shapiro, Philadelphia Inquirer
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_TJegLiAIxpNmM3ZTJiMWYtMTVlZS00NjgyLTkzN2EtOTQwMjIwMjJkOWQ3&hl=en

Contemporary American Theatre Festival
Shepherdstown, West Virginia, July-August 2008

An absorbing, funny potboiler with a few intellectual points to make [....] But it is the soap opera quotient -- delectably accentuated by the cast and director Liesl Tommy -- that makes the production so diverting.
Celia Wren, Washington Post
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_TJegLiAIxpMzM3Yjc4M2MtZGQzYy00NjBkLThlMWItODIxODk5Y2JkZjJm&hl=en

Playwright Diamond is extraordinarily successful, daring to examine the possibility that perhaps it's not race, but social class and pressures that more strongly influence our personal outcomes. Her characters are interesting, articulate and frustrating, and her comic touches exhibit great wit and perceptiveness.
T.L. Ponick, Washington Times
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B_TJegLiAIxpYjM5ZDhjZmUtN2ExYS00NTI1LTk1OTUtNmRmZTg3Mjg3OGJl&hl=en

Matrix Theatre
Los Angeles, April-May 2009

Diamond's play combines complex characters, provocative situations, and literate, funny dialog in this delicious comedy of contemporary manners.
Steven Leigh Morris, LA Weekly Blogs
http://blogs.laweekly.com/style_council/stage-news/stage-raw-stick-fly/

Stick Fly runs over two and a half hours, but it’s so good, so compelling, so involving that time passes by lickety-split. This is not only a play I didn’t want to see end, it’s one I’m hoping to see again. It’s a winner all around.
Steven Stanley, StageSceneLA
http://stagescenela.com/html/stick_fly.html

And, while some moments are clearly uneasy to watch and hear – the audience can’t help but be drawn in. What makes this play work is that you care about each character, even the two who never make it on stage.
Darlene Dunlowe, L.A. Watts Times
http://www.lawattstimes.com/component/content/article/650-family-drama-rules-in-stick-fly.html

Diamond’s overly discursive family drama takes some gratuitous segues into coincidence but ultimately takes on the leisureliness and heft of an August Wilson work...
Kathleen Foley, Los Angeles Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/04/review-stick-fly-at-matrix-theatre.html

The play's pacing does not leave much time for rest on the characters' part or reflection on ours. Nonetheless, the talented Diamond has given us much to chew on and a hugely entertaining evening to boot.
Evan Henerson, CurtainUp
http://www.curtainup.com/stickflyla.html

With so many character issues, so many revelations and so many connections to be made, “Stick Fly” can sometimes feel daunting to the audience keeping up with this, to say the least, dysfunctional family.
Courtney Powell, Daily Bruin
http://dailybruin.ucla.edu/stories/2009/may/21/theater-review-emstick-flyem/

Diamond's strengths here are well-rounded characters, an involving story, and integrity in incisively tackling important topics. The downside comes in patches of dialogue that defy credibility, as some family discussions sound like stilted textbook discourses. This adds to the verbosity of the overplotted, nearly three-hour script.
Les Spindle, Backstage
http://www.backstage.com/bso/content_display/reviews/la-theatre-reviews/e3id3ffb6d5b9e0b911561c3e2ef165bde7